


clouds shining in the nightsky

by kunnskat



Series: be careful to not lose yourself in between these lives [2]
Category: Naruto, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Gen, Mentions of Akatsuki, Mentions of Murder, Mentions of The Midoriya Massacre, Midoriya Izuku Loves His Team 7, Readable for Free on AO3, The Team 7 Curse, Ticked Off by Xenolis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-18 06:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21540205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kunnskat/pseuds/kunnskat
Summary: Ticked Off characters fall into the world of fciars just after the Sports Festival. Meeting himself, Izuku can't not try to fix the boy aiming to kill his older brother. Unfortunately for the time traveller, his counterpart has his own plans. They don't involve returning to his team, even if this hero thinks he should.
Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead & Midoriya Izuku, Asui Tsuyu & Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki & Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki & Midoriya Izuku & Midoriya Izuku, Chisaki Kai | Overhaul & Eri & Midoriya Izuku, Chisaki Kai | Overhaul & Irinaka Joui | Mimic, Dark Shadow & Midoriya Izuku & Tokoyami Fumikage, Dark Shadow & Tokoyami Fumikage, Eri & Midoriya Izuku, Hadou Nejire & Midoriya Izuku, Iida Tenya & Midoriya Izuku, Jirou Kyouka & Midoriya Izuku, Mentions of Akaguro Chizome | Stain & Iida Tenya, Mentions of Iida Tensei & Iida Tenya, Mentions of Midoriya Izuku & Sensei | All For One, Mentions of Thirteen & Uraraka Ochako, Midoriya Izuku & Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku & Tokoyami Fumikage, Midoriya Izuku & Toogata Mirio, Midoriya Izuku & Uraraka Ochako
Series: be careful to not lose yourself in between these lives [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1141055
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	clouds shining in the nightsky

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Xenolis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xenolis/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Ticked Off](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16245629) by [Xenolis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xenolis/pseuds/Xenolis). 



> So some of y'all know I initiated a Xult Challenge (see the Xen's Den server or my tumblr blog (write-yourself-a-river) for details). This was mainly to throw love and adoration at Pip's feet, but also because I wanted to write something and to be honest, I don't even remember how this idea happened. All I know is that fciars horrified Pip and I loved that reaction and then this got spawned. 
> 
> Wow, that's a horrible intro. Oh well, y'all love me anyway. Happy holidays, Xod! Praiseth be youmst lmao.
> 
> (also, this is two weeks early but I couldn't wait any longer)

Izuku watches the fish float to the surface, proof of a successfully executed technique. Leaving them to Overhaul’s subordinate to collect and dispose of, he sheathes his sword and jumps over the river, steps continuing on at the other side. When Overhaul calls, Izuku must already be on his way. The rules aren’t his rules but pretending has never been all that difficult for him. 

He’d spent years pretending he didn’t care about anyone else and yet he’d grown to remember what it was like to care for people of his former village. Enough to leave to protect them. 

Chances are he’d have grown strong enough there too if he’d given it time, but Shouta-sensei is much more careful with their safety than Overhaul is with his. Izuku needs someone willing to sacrifice to get to the goal so that he can kill Mirio quicker, ensure he won’t get close to his team - former team - ever again. Katsuki will be safer with one less missing-nin hunting him. 

Though Izuku has yet to get confirmation as to the why. 

“Congratulations on your new technique,” Overhaul doesn’t even look at him as he says this. Parts of Izuku are grateful. Parts are annoyed. He can’t explain it, maybe it reminds him too much of that man. 

Maybe he’s just too used to the attention. 

“What do you want?”

“I thought you’d ask about your former village,” Overhaul is looking now, in time to watch Izuku narrow his eyes in turn. 

“Why would I care what happens there?”

Overhaul smiles. 

Izuku finds himself following Overhaul and his small group back towards the village he’d had no intentions of returning to, frown the only visible cue of his emotions, and he’s not even sure he wants to go despite the absolutely baffling news he’d gotten. 

Except he’s worried about what will happen if he doesn’t. 

Overhaul has a very big in there, he has information he really shouldn’t have about a village he’d betrayed. Izuku remembers all his lessons, every book and scroll he’d read, and he knows what a traitor should be able to know at most. He knows what only higher-ups in their village should know. Overhaul is not a jounin of Konoha anymore. 

There is a traitor in the village and Izuku needs to know who it is so he can dispose of them when he’s gotten rid of Overhaul. 

Overhaul smiles at him sometimes like he knows exactly what Izuku is planning. It just means Izuku will have to work harder to surprise him. He’s got plenty of plans, it is all about choosing the right one. 

“Are you excited to see them again?” the most loyal follower of Overhaul asks, his only interest in Izuku that of Overhauls. Mimic has been this way since he was forced to meet Izuku on the way after Konoha had tried to chase them. He doesn’t really like Izuku and it shows. 

“Are you?” he throws back at Mimic, a reminder that they currently share the same loyalty and betrayals. Though Izuku suspects Mimic has betrayed many more. 

Mimics grin here tells him all he needs to know. He’ll need to keep an eye on him around his old team if that happens. 

Overhaul leads them through a hole in the patrols, the blank-masked ANBU passing them right by without a reaction. Izuku would think genjutsu but he knows better. Mimic even gives the ANBU a wave. 

“Mimic, go greet our old friend. Meet us right after.”

Izuku watches him go, eliminating specific people from his suspicions by the path he takes and his own knowledge of the village. It still leaves many for him to be wary of. 

“Come along, Izuku-kun,” Overhaul leaves the minor trail to a hidden path Izuku has never wandered before, it looks suspiciously new. “Ready to meet another life?”

“They might not be different,” Izuku blandly reminds him, though that is more of a fear of his own. There is another Izuku at the end of their walk that might be colder than he. He might know just as much as he and be worse for it. He might even already have betrayed the Izuku of this world without knowing it. 

Izuku will just have to remind them, if so, that he has betrayed them to an enemy. 

“...A bit different, I guess, but he’s our sensei too,” Izuku hears Ochako’s voice, bubbly and kind. There are two of her but they are dressed differently and he knows it is not his teammate who had spoken. Are they talking about Shouta-sensei or an academy teacher?

A tree hides their presence from those it shouldn’t be able to, Overhaul keeping on a branch below Izuku while their former Hokage smiles widely at them all, dressed rather strangely. Many of those in the clearing are, but not all are dressed as brightly. The other Izuku has seen sense and is dressed in the colors of the forest surrounding them. At least this they have in common. 

Katsuki is dressed in mostly black but Izuku sees splashes of colors that shouldn’t be there. It is still better than that of his own, but he can’t see him on the ground. There are hindrances on his arms that betray his foolishness, though, so Izuku doesn’t have much hope for him. 

Shouta-sensei is the best dressed, he decides, though he doesn’t say it. Almost on par with his actual Shouta-sensei. It is clearly a jumpsuit, after all. 

“Go on,” Overhaul tells him, and because he is watching, Izuku knows not to go near his former team. Instead, he picks another he can justify using as a hostage, another valuable clan heir. Someone he won’t have to kill.

Izuku moves behind Kyouka and knocks her out before she can see or hear him. The other genin are easier to deal with, the rest won’t try anything so long as he holds a kunai to the neck of Kyouka. Not with these other ones watching, and he sees tense muscles and shocked stares, confusion and worry clear in their expressions. Izuku thinks the reason the otherworlders aren’t attacking are only half because it could be seen as a sign of aggression and half because the other version of him is staring wide-eyed and his main emotion seems to be horror. Good, that means he knows what is going on already. Or he’s guessed. Izuku doesn’t care which, so long as he doesn’t try to involve himself with that which he shouldn’t. 

“Good evening,” he greets politely if a bit cold, eyes focused on the other version of his sensei but his other senses keeping clear of anyone that might think to take advantage of what could seem like inattention. Overhaul won’t intervene for him, not unless he might die. He still needs him. 

“Izuku-kun,” Ochaco sounds like she’s begging and it hurts him inside to hear and know he’s at fault, but he can’t let it control him. She’s better off. 

“I wonder what your lives were like to dress as you have, as bright and likely to attract all attention. Some of you seem to know what stealth is,” the other Third Hokage isn’t smiling even though he had been when Izuku had first spotted him. There’s an expression he hasn’t seen since That Man murdered his clan. It’s irritating and frustrating because he can’t figure out why.

“You’re a fucking villain,” Katsuki scoffs, glaring at him. Small explosions pop from his hands and despite himself Izuku wants to look closer. 

“If that’s what you want to call defector and enemy,” to be fair, he considers himself something along the lines of what Katsuki just called him because he’d wronged what was left of the family he’d built with his team, but it is a necessity and he does not regret it. 

His grip on Kyouka tightens when he feels her stir in his arms. He can’t afford her seeing Overhaul. 

“What would you call it?” the less put-together version of his sensei asks. 

“None of your business,” Izuku smiles back. At least until the other him steps forward, looking determined to do something. Izuku isn’t taking any chances so he puts the kunai closer and deliberately cuts a thin, visibly red line on Kyouka’s throat. That makes them look angry. Angry people talk. 

“Why did you come, Izuku-kun?” his Ochaco asks, shoulders slumped and hurt in her eyes when he glances her way. 

“Overhaul-sensei told me there’s something I might like to see. Congratulations on your apprenticeship to Thirteen,” well, just a little warning couldn’t hurt, right? That they know there’s a traitor deep in the village? It’s not like they’ll get caught if they haven’t yet, he’ll defend himself to Overhaul later. It’ll be worth it if they do catch them, though. 

“You could know it all sooner if you came back,” and clearly Katsuki’s stubbornness has rubbed off because she wasn’t nearly as actively trying the last time he’d seen her. Good, he thinks, that she’s getting stronger. He’d worried about her but now he knows he doesn’t need to. His former team will be fine so long as he can kill Mirio before he gets to them again. 

“You know I won’t,” it’s interesting just how much these otherworlders clearly care not just about Kyouka but about him who they have deemed a ‘villain’. Is it because of the him they know as the opposite? “What do you call yourselves anyway, heroes?”

Izuku snorts when he gets confirmation, he can’t not. That’s absolutely the weirdest thing he’s heard and he’d grown up with Katsuki. He’s heard a lot of weird things by plain exposure through team missions, too. 

“Why are you doing this?” the hero version of him persists. 

“I told Shouta-sensei already, didn’t I? You should leave this world while you still can,” before Mirio learns of this other him and tries to see his worth. 

“They’re your friends, aren’t they? You care about them.” 

“Cared,” Izuku lies firmly, to them and to Overhaul and hopes at least some of them believes him. 

“You’re a fucking pretentious little liar,” the hero Katsuki accuses him, and is angry his only mood? He’s been nothing but since Izuku arrived. It gets worse whenever Izuku smiles and somehow that translates into more explosions.

Maybe a seal-based bloodline? Overhaul-sensei has told him about the clan his Katsuki could’ve had if that village hadn’t been massacred decades ago. It’s possible that this Katsuki was lucky enough to keep his, they might even be a whole clan of heroes. It’d suit them well. Though what that makes the clan of his own hero self, he’s not sure he wants to ask. 

If the Mirio of that world hasn’t slaughtered them all yet and if he should warn them to keep an eye on him. But thinking about Mirio takes his attention away from the situation in a way it shouldn’t and he knows they’ve noticed. 

He hasn’t gotten as much information as he’d like when the other Izuku glows, then disappears and his instincts have him dropping Kyouka and moving back, closer to where he can still feel Overhaul. His not-quite-clone is grinning at him from his place next to Kyouka, the Ochaco of his team hurrying forward with the familiar healing chakra he’s seen Mimic use many times forming on her hands. 

Izuku smiles back at himself, bland and polite, “good luck, try not to die before you find your way back.”

He doesn’t trust most of the people around the other him and neither should the child he speaks to. When he runs, he thinks he hears Ochaco call out Deku, but that makes even less sense because that’s an insult that’s never fit him and he can’t imagine any of them insulting the hero him. 

And then Katsuki is shouting it too, followed by expletives, and he’s following him out of there. Explosions betray him and Izuku can hear him falling behind when he thinks, why shouldn’t he use this to gather more information. He lets him catch up in a much smaller clearing and smiles at hero-Katsuki despite knowing it angers him. 

His smile falls slightly when hero-Izuku appears too. Two on one wouldn’t normally be worrisome to him but he doesn’t know their strength and they might know his after their time with his team. Still, a clone and replacement before they can notice will take care of that. He’ll stay hiding and listen to his clone drag out information. That will have to satisfy Overhaul.

* * *

**Moments set in the same universe;**

Ochaco watches Izuku-kun run for half a second before turning her attention to healing Kyouka, the job she can do. Following Izuku-kun to plead with him to stay has never worked for her. She has to believe that Katsuki will bring him back, and in the meantime, she makes room for Thirteen-shisho when they arrive, her sensei in tow. 

She looks at him and points in the direction Izuku-kun had gone. Shouta-sensei gives her a once-over and then he nods and is gone. He’ll catch up faster than their Shouta-sensei, she’s sure of it. Maybe even fast enough to see Izuku-kun for himself. Maybe she doesn’t need to wait for Katsuki to return in order to get Izuku-kun back, he hasn’t let Shouta-sensei try to convince him yet. 

It’s lonely without her team, even here just outside their village where all their friends and family reside. Well, her family, none of them have any blood relatives left. She carefully doesn’t think about the reason Izuku-kun left them behind.

  


Tenya thinks he can accept the insistence of hunting a traitor if not for the reason why they do so. This Midoriya Izuku is a traitor to the leaf and Chizome-sama has told him that traitors are unacceptable. They may walk free right now but even as he looks Overhaul in the eye and hands over the file as he’s ordered, they will be taken down. Perhaps not by him, or by Chizome-sama, but their actions will ensure that it happens. 

Following Overhaul to his base, though he knows they don’t intend to allow him to leave, Tenya finally gets to meet the boy that Katsuki and Ochaco desperately wish to save. Shouta-sensei too, though he never outright says it. He never tries to order them otherwise. Midoriya looks at him nothing like the Izuku of the other world had. There is no smile or concern from this version of the boy. 

Tenya still doesn’t understand why they want him back, but team seven has taught him to care too much to not follow the boy out of the room Overhaul speaks to his subordinates in. He tells himself it is just to pay back the hero Izuku for telling him of a world where Tensei lives happily, still. 

  


Chisaki’s eyes narrow as it is not Mimic entering the room, as he’d thought it would be, but Izuku-kun. Unexpected, but perhaps not. It is nearly time for the boy to die anyway, a few days early does not matter. Smiling, he raises his killing intent, knowing that Izuku-kun is already attempting to strike him even if he can’t see it. 

This will be a very interesting fight, one he’d thought he might see sooner when they’d visited Konoha and met those precious heroes of another world. It had been interesting to see Izuku-kun on the side of those heroes rather than at the side of another him, but none had mentioned knowing him where he or his spies could learn of it so he does not know what happened there. 

But that hero child who had followed little Katsuki-kun when he’d exploded (literally, too, how amusing!) himself after Chisaki’s newest apprentice. He’d, unfortunately, had no time to follow them when Thirteen and the others arrived as he’d been stuck stalling for a few minutes, so he’d not heard their topic of conversation. But he suspects that he’d gotten mostly the truth from Izuku-kun and had left it at that.

He’d, obviously, still been wary of a change of heart but Izuku-kuns desire to see Mirio-kun dead still holds him in a vice grip. 

Chisaki promises himself that he will go kill Mirio-kun once he has killed Izuku-kun, if only to see the look on his face when he realizes what he has done to his little brother. It is not that he cares for Izuku’s wishes, they are simply easy to manipulate to his own gain or he simply would never even have noticed. Chisaki does not care at all about this foolish little boy looking for the power to protect his clan’s reputation, or what is left of it. 

  


Looking up from the boy she’s been forced to heal, Eri blinks in surprise at Izuku-kun looking back at her. Her cheeks turn pink and she quickly ducks her head before realizing he must be here for a reason and though it feels wrong to think he must be hurt, she looks back at him and tries to see if he is. Izuku-kun is the only person Eri won’t mind healing. 

“Eri,” he says and she squeaks but determinedly doesn’t look away, wanting to prove herself to the only reason she’s still alive.

“Y-yes?”

“Come,” he tells her, and she leaves the boy behind to treat the rest himself. He can do it, she knows, he’s just used to getting to use her and will be annoyed about it later but it doesn’t matter because Izuku-kun wants her to follow him. So she will.

“W-where are we going?”

“Away. We’re picking up a few more people and then we’re going to find my brother.”

Eyes wide, she nods even though she wants to ask if Chisaki-sama (ah, no, he prefers Overhaul doesn’t he) won’t send someone after them. Izuku-kun knows best, she trusts him. 

  


Tsuyu waits. 

He has promised to come for her. Perhaps not in words and definitely not where anyone could see. No one but her who saw the promise in his mannerism as he turned from her and walked away, following Mimic away from the lab where Tsuyu has been made useful for Overhaul-sama. 

The glass breaks and hands catch her when they shouldn’t be able to and when she breathes air again, she feels strong. Her eyes meet his and she smiles, though he doesn’t smile back. 

“Mimic told me of your plans for the future,” this is the first time the boy has spoken to her and she hears again the promise he’d made her. “Come with us to find my brother and I will help you complete your plans.”

Tsuyu nods mutely, agreeing. He’s looking at her like he knows her even without what he’s been told. She thinks he must have met her before but Tsuyu can’t remember any such thing. 

  


Time passes and none visit his cell anymore, Dark Shadow whispers in his ear that they have given up on him and that soon he will starve if he does not leave. Fumikage wishes he had died before he gave in to the monster he is. He would not be sitting in this dark corner, praying none come to challenge him. 

The door opens as to prove him wrong, light spilling into the cell and hiding the features of the dark figure who has come to die. 

Fumikage reluctantly rises, Dark Shadow growing behind him to warn the fool away. He hopes they will turn away and leave, run as fast as their feet can carry them and never come back. He hopes the door will close behind them and lock itself and leave him there to rot. 

The man steps further in and there is an expectant look to him even as he nears, no fear in sight. It’s as if he knows Fumikage and what he will do even before his shadow reaches to strike at him. Killing intent hits the air and it does not belong to the duo from the cell. Fumikage kneels without knowing it and when he looks up at green hair and green eyes, he knows he will never kill again.

“Come with me,” he is ordered and it doesn’t even come to mind to refuse. 

  


Nejire has followed Mirio for years, she’s certain she knows him more than anyone else left alive. Even his little brother, though she hadn’t known of him until they’d gone to Konoha to find the demon container and he’d stumbled right over them, childish rage and desperation on his face as he’d laid eyes on Mirio. 

It’s kind of funny, 

That day had been the most expressive she’d seen Mirio be (not counting that time with the rumours of alternate universes and Konoha) and it was all thanks to the little brother he’d left alive for some reason he’s still not willing to tell her. But Nejire has her suspicions now, watching him settle on the stone chair like it’s a throne and he is awaiting challengers to the throne. 

One challenger, that is. Little Izuku. 

Nejire says goodbye without words when she says she’ll keep an eye out for the boy and his friends, there’s something that might be a smile in return and even though he won’t see it, she smiles too. 

  


He is not supposed to know. As a missing nin the knowledge he’d picked up, not long ago but too long ago to not get to meet the other version of his little brother, should never have left the village. But word had passed through other missing nin and Mirio is aware that his little brother had met another version of himself. 

A bright, smiling boy, his contact had told him. None of the arrivals had been anything like most ninjas, there were few weapons. And one of them had supposedly been pink. 

None of that mattered to Mirio as much as the idea that his plan might fail, he’d spent years perfecting it and making sure it would conclude the way he’d intended and he’d been prepared to hunt down Izuku once more to make sure of it when he’s told Konoha had caught him. Rumours say he’s not interested in vengeance.

“Why, then, have you come?” Mirio smiles like he knows it is a lie, staring his little brother down with a set of eyes that would no longer see if not the bloodline they share. 

“I will kill you,” Izuku promises, but there is none of the rage Mirio had done his best to cultivate in the words offered. Only certainty.

Mirio can, well, not exactly live with that, but accept it. 

  


The other Izuku swings his feet like a child, smiling from his seat on the branch. It’s a sight he’s never seen before, not even before his version became his genin. He’d been one of the guards that sometimes checked in without the boy knowing, he knows a lot more about both his male students than they’d think. Ochaco has thankfully never been quite as, well, troublesome. 

But if Shouta knows anything, it is that the luck of Team 7 strikes true and two of his little students are still right here. Well, their Katsuki isn’t quite yet back. But Shinji has been complaining about it since he and Tenya got dropped onto their Team, it affects them just as much now even when they’re not on the same missions. Though the two won’t be fully integrated before Katsuki returns. 

“Hi,” Izuku greets him brightly, with a big grin that looks entirely out of place on a face he knows too well. Shouta keeps expecting a faker smile or a frown, like that of his former student turned traitor. They’ll bring him back, though, soon he can call him little student again. 

He raises an eyebrow at the boy, a silent question he suspects the boy will understand given that there’s another version of him here with them and all those brats call that him their sensei. Some of them slip up and call him sensei, too. It’s strange and Shouta can’t imagine what the other him was thinking, taking responsibility of a whole twenty children where he can’t even manage three. 

The smile changes into something softer and Shouta wonders if it’s because the boy has talked to his other self. They can’t interrogate him or the Katsuki with explosions, or even any of those children, without turning it into a problem. But this Izuku hadn’t minded telling them things from the little meeting before his student fully escaped. It’s just that he has a feeling that Izuku hadn’t told them everything. And the other Katsuki had, just as Shouta would expect of his own version, refused to say anything at all. What had his Izuku said to convince them so well to keep his secrets, or had some of their own come out in the process that they simply couldn’t share? Their Aizawa-sensei hadn’t tried to stop him from talking even once, he’d just followed along and looked warningly at them, like if they harmed a single hair on this boy’s head they’d suffer for it.

Shouta understands exactly how he feels, part of him wants to be out there hunting down Overhaul, or even Mirio himself, so that Izuku will just come home. He’d gone and gotten attached and he’s not sure he’d undo it even if he could. 

“...Do you have a minute?” it’s clear he’s not sure what to call him, maybe that’s why he’d come looking for him on his own. Shouta blinks with his one visible eye and hops up onto the branch, crouching next to an Izuku that stayed. Their Aizawa-sensei must have done something very right. Maybe he’ll try to weedle it out of him, later, before they have to go. Maybe he doesn’t have to, because Izuku drags up his feet and looks at him like he’s about to tell him a very dangerous secret. Or worse. It’s a good thing Shouta will know if someone comes too close. 

“What was the Mirio of Konoha like?”

That’s a direction he wasn’t expecting this to take, their Izuku never really opened up about the massacre even to his team, determined to carry it, and the burden of some version of vengeance Shouta still doesn’t know much of, on his own shoulders. The times he’d looked content, Katsuki had been grinning and Ochaco had been smiling. Neither would’ve thought to bring the issue up anymore than they did while arguing. And Shouta has never been very relatable for children, it’d been a struggle to get any of them to open up as they had and not all of it had been their fault. 

“...Mirio was my student, for a while, during his later years in the village. He was quiet and diligent and no one suspected a thing.”

“Hokage-sama,” Izuku greets him when Shouta finally sees him, chained and blindfolded and he knows Izuku can escape this but he hasn’t. There must be a reason for that, and the knowledge he shouldn’t have. 

He sighs, and walks into the cell, the door closing behind him but his guards splitting up. Just in case. Ordering them all outside will just bring rebellion even if he knows Izuku can’t, perhaps even won’t, kill him. That boy has always been softer than the rest of the nations have been willing to see, Konoha included. 

“Did you meet All For One, yet?” his former students asks after a moment of silence and Shouta has to ask himself why it’s always them, why is it always Team 7? 

“He offered me a place in the Akatsuki and vengeance on Konoha,” Izuku continues like he’s not stabbing himself with his own kunai. Metaphorically, because Shouta would’ve been able to stop him if it’d been literal. They want Izuku to talk, especially of how he knew Chizome was a bloodline-thief. And why he’d killed him. The Akatsuki is a bonus given that they’d declared war on their entire world. 

“Vengeance on Konoha?” he asks, because that’s what they’re supposed to prioritize even given the possible information on Akatsuki. They have to be certain that Izuku will not take the first chance he gets to burn what’s left of them down to the very ground and deeper. Originally, Shouta could have argued for easier, but given that Izuku had killed their Hokage while he’d been on his way to a Kage Summit, well. It’s an issue even given what they’ve since learned about the man. Certain people in Konoha fear what Izuku can do, what he has proven himself capable of. Not just anyone could’ve done what he’d succeeded at. Shouta would have struggled, might even have failed despite his upped training regime to try to protect what little he has left in his life. 

Izuku looks at him now, there’s something dark and tired in his eyes that he wishes he could’ve protected him from, and tells him, “-Akaguro Chizome ordered the Midoriya Massacre, Mirio-nii only agreed to it if I’d be spared. He was still loyal to Konoha when I… When I killed him.”

“Can you prove it?” he can’t think about what-ifs where Mirio, someone he’d helped train personally, was involved. Mirio had made his choices and they’re not fixable. So he can’t think about that right now. He’ll tear himself or someone else up about it later. Izuku has to be his focus. 

“Only through pointing at what you’ll have found hidden in his secret bases and through his sealed followers, as well as my bloodline that he tried to use against me,” and to be fair, that’s plenty proof on its own, but it also says that Izuku had gone after the man without concrete proof. 

Shouta will have to make sure the story says he’d gone after him to check, that he’d only chosen to kill him when he’d realized what the man stole from his clan. That kind of theft is very serious in Konoha, he’s sure he can swing it. 

He was Hokage for a very short bit before Thirteen-sama managed to return to the post, he’s got the authority. 

“You’ll have to wait for Thirteen-sama to have time for you,” is the only thing Shouta says out loud. Who knows who is listening in. “I’ll wait with you.”

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Izuku asks, a sliver of amusement in his words like he knows Shouta is using him as an excuse to be late. 

“The War Council can wait a few hours,” Shouta blandly returns, unsealing a futon, settling in a corner close to the door and pretending to no longer be paying attention. Even though they both know that Shouta is always paying attention.

**Author's Note:**

> Character list:
> 
> Konoha Clans:  
> Senju: Hashirama, Tobirama, Tsunade - 1st OFA user, Nana Shimura, Thirteen  
> Uchiha: Madara, Obito, Fugaku, Mikoto, Itachi, Shisui, Sasuke - AFO/Sensei, Shigaraki Tomura, Midoriya Hisashi, Midoriya Inko, Togata Mirio, Amajiki Tamaki, Midoriya Izuku  
> Uzumaki: Kushina, Karin, Naruto - Bakugo Mitsuki, Eri, Bakugo Katsuki  
> Hyuga: Neji, Hinata - Shoji Mezo, Jiro Kyoka  
> Sarutobi: Hiruzen, Asuma - All Might, Tsukauchi Naomasa  
> Akimichi: Choji - Sato Rikido  
> Nara: Shikamaru - Yaoyorozu Momo  
> Inuzuka: Kiba - Kirishima Eijiro  
> Aburame: Shino - Ashido Mina  
> Yamanaka: Ino - Aoyama Yuga
> 
> Konoha groups:  
> Konoha Elders: Koharu, Homura, Danzo - Recovery Girl, Gran Torino, Stain  
> Sannin: Jiraiya, Orochimaru - Sir Nighteye, Overhaul  
> Other Jounin: Hatake Kakashi, Yuhi Kurenai, Might Gai, Tenzo, Mitarashi Anko (Tokubetsu) - Eraserhead, Midnight, Present Mic, Kamui Woods, Ms. Joke  
> Root: Fu, Torune, Shin, Sai - Manual, Native, Ingenium, Iida Tenya  
> Other Genin: Haruno Sakura - Uraraka Ochaco
> 
> Outside groups:  
> Akatsuki: Sasori, Hidan, Kisame - Dabi, Toga, Hado Nejire  
> Suna: Yondaime Kazekage, Karura, Temari, Kankuro, Gaara - Endeavor, Rei, Fuyumi, Natsuo, Shoto  
> Team Taka: Suigetsu, Jugo - Asui Tsuyu, Tokoyami Fumikage
> 
> General background:  
> Izuku saved Eri in the Forest of Death, she stops fighting Overhaul when Izuku comes to them. Overhaul was named Chisaki Kai but renamed himself Overhaul bc I just wanna call him Overhaul tbh.


End file.
